Rockin' New Car :-)

I had, like, two days off this past week, and I spent them car shopping. My lease was nearly up on my Mommy Bus, AKA minivan, and now that my kids are older, I was looking for a cool car. But I like the experience of being up high, and didn't want to go to a regular car. I wanted some power :-)

So I started looking at SUVs. I looked at just about every SUV under the sun. Spent more time in dealerships than I did in my own home. Test drove a gazillion different ones. But I kept coming back to the same one--the Chrysler Aspen. I'm a diehard Chrysler fan, because, well, I'm a spoiled girl :-) and I like luxury. You could tell me ten thousand things about the engine and I would just kind of zone out but mention things like heated seats and built-in touch-screen navigational system, and I'm your girl.

I negotiated with two dealerships in one city, and couldn't get the Aspen I wanted for the price I wanted to pay. I wanted, being the spoiled princess that I am, the totally decked out top-of-the-line Aspen. DH and I had a budget, and I could have gotten the next step down for that price at one dealership, but the other dealership had offered the next step up, only without as many bells and whistles as I wanted, for the same price, so I knew it was a possibility to get the fully loaded one for what I wanted to pay.

My husband suggested trying another city. So I decided to try THE car city--Auburn, IN. For those of you who don't know, that's where the big auction is held every year, the Auburn-Cord Deusenberg Festival. It's on ESPN and everything. It's a BIG DEAL. People come into town for days for it and they auction everything from the car from "Batman," the Flinstonemobile to cars for a million dollars and up. I wasn't going to the auction, just to the local Chrysler dealership ;-) but I had heard good things about the car dealerships in Auburn and I figured if the city was known for it's cars, then the dealers had to be pretty good, too.

My husband was right (and I told him so). The folks at Auburn Chrysler not only met, they essentially beat the price of the other dealerships, and they did it with a REALLY friendly, nice attitude. I rarely mention a business by name here (except, I think, once, when I had a big beef with the cable company; oh, and the cool Not Your Daughter's Jeans company, too, who make THE BEST jeans ever), but these folks gave such hugely exceptional service that I wanted to give them a plug. If you need a car and you live within driving distance of them, I recommend Auburn Chrysler.

And I have to say my Aspen ROCKS (and yes, that is the model I got up above, in that same color, called Cool Vanilla). Even my husband loves it and for him to love one of my cars is very unusual. I got the Hemi, with every option available, so that means it has the TV and the Navigation system, and everything, and it is really, really cool. I don't think I've been this excited about a car since I got my license, LOL.

Though it doesn't cook dinner, it sure does make me look cool when I go to the market. Now if I can only get something that will actually put the food IN the oven! Yesterday was the oh-so-healthy leftover nachos meal. I did make the chili earlier in the week, and will try to post that recipe in a day or two.

Have a great week!

Shirley